Kohli pleased with Rahane's form

Fatullah, 2014/Feb/27 04:18:00

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Virat Kohli, standing in as captain for the injured MS Dhoni, was happy with a clinical Indian victory in their Asia Cup opener against Bangladesh, particularly so with Ajinkya Rahane and the death bowling, that has haunted the world champions in the past.

After Bangladesh had ploughed their way to a challenging 279, India had no real problems chasing down the target with one over to spare, thanks to a 213-run third wicket partnership between Kohli, who struck his 19th ODI century and Rahane, who overcame a dismal ODI series in New Zealand, where he had only managed 51 from five innings.

Kohli said it was important for Rahane to spend some time in the middle, especially with two big games, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, coming up.

"It was very important for someone like Ajinkya to bat through the innings. He was playing so well in New Zealand and South Africa and he played beautifully here too. He is a very positive guy and works very hard. So it was good for us to stay together till the end," Kohli said.

The young captain felt his bowlers did well to restrict Bangladesh to well under 300 on what was a typically flat sub-continental track.

"We bowled well today and there was an improvement in the death overs. It was good to see everyone step up in the absence of Dhoni," Kohli said.

Meanwhile, Rahane said he was never worried about the tough time he had in New Zealand in the five ODIs but instead drew confidence from his maiden Test hundred in the second match of the series against the Black Caps.

"Frankly speaking, I wasn't thinking about the past. I was slightly relaxed and just wanted to play my game. I got a hundred in the last innings in New Zealand (in the two-Test series), so I was confident during my batting. My plan was to take my time initially and then play my shots. That really worked."

The pitch may have been flat to begin with but Rahane said it had become a little more tricky during India's chase, with the odd ball keeping low, restricting the free-flowing Indian openers initially. The much anticipated dew also settled around the 40th over, according to Rahane.

"On this wicket, shot selection was very crucial. It was not easy to play shots initially, the ball was keeping low. There was some odd bounce and uneven bounce.

"We were just planning to play straight initially and back ourselves to play our shots later on. Obviously Virat took his chances really well and that worked."

Sri Lanka have not won a major title for a long while and captain Angelo Mathews said that his side were happy to have broken the "barrier of finals" by defeating Pakistan in the summit clash to lift the Asia Cup.